I'm lucky enough to have been part of several successful teams, yet when the boys around home get together and the slagging gets going only one cuts the mustard, the Knockmany Cup.
There are the haves and the have-nots. It was our local primary school competition. We played our pick-up games at lunch and break time in preparation and had our fun but, make no mistake, the Knockmany was the holy grail.
Fast forward 30 years and last year I went to see my son compete. This year will be my daughter's turn. When I informed her that this year’s could be the last one ever there was disbelief.
How something, that was a real highlight for generations, is now a danger to children having fun and enjoying their game is a tough one to explain.
Just last week I mentioned in an article regarding how everything seemed to have to be black or white with little space for the middle ground. The reaction to the GAA’s letter to clubs regarding underage competitive games has been as polarising as we’ve seen in a long time and that’s saying something.
POLL: Should there be GAA competitions for Under-12s?
The extremism of the current debate was crystalised for me when reading during the week of the family who had sued their GAA club over the running of an 'elite U9 competition’ and how they were delighted at the moves of the GAA to stop competitions Under-12.
To the vast majority of sensible people, the absurdity of running an ‘elite U9 competition’ is only matched by the absurdity of suing your club because of it.
That such examples are being used as the basis for the discourse this week does us all a massive disservice. I understand the absolute priority being placed on participation. I understand the concept of silent sidelines (though admittedly struggle with its application).
I understand the primacy of fun and games rather than winning and drills. I know there are issues with some (a small minority) of coaches and parents.
I also see however, the massive increase in parental involvement and attendance, the increased awareness and education among coaches and the huge development in the structures clubs have established for girls and boys from pre-school up.
It is a phenomenal body of work led by the GAA and enacted by amateur coaches and clubs i.e. by parents who love the game and wish to pass it on.
Find me one coach at U10 level who is focused on winning trophies and I’ll find you an equivalent 20, with sense, who are just trying to develop the kids under their charge as best they can and keep them involved and happy.
Fundamentally throughout underage, participation should be our guiding star. Crucially, saying that does not preclude me from saying I see some competition as part of this.
Why? As we are so often told, children are all different. Within our sports, many children love competition. Are we to neglect these children and have them bored?
Maybe their local soccer club who have reached a semi-final will appear much cooler. At least with them they’re playing in ‘real’ games.
Am I being dramatic? Ask any keen 10-12-year-old player which they would want to play this Saturday morning. A non-competitive blitz or a tournament? The vast majority will jump for the latter and look at you incredulously as to why you’re asking a stupid question.
And don’t give me this stuff regarding it's still competitive even if there’s no trophy. That’s like telling your child its real Coca-Cola when it’s not. You’ll get away with it when they are six, not a chance when they’re older.
Children at that age want to be treated like grown-ups. They follow their senior teams, race onto the pitch after games, see the trophies and the celebrations. Their first question when you announce there’s a blitz at the weekend: ‘Is it a real one, like, is there a trophy to be won?’.
They’ve been out since U6s. They’ve done the fundamentals and the skills. We see them as kids. They see themselves as young footballers or hurlers. So lay off this stuff that it's only coaches that want competitions.
This past six years I’ve been at multitudes of Go Games and - bless me father for I have sinned - competitive blitzes.
Most coaches are honestly just trying to do their best. Normal dads and mothers trying to somehow interpret all the modern coaching knowledge and theories, complete all their safeguarding responsibilities, keep parents on side, keep their gear together and bibs washed, get pitches booked, send WhatsApp messages, attend the requisite courses and arrange games.
All this on top of running sessions that are engaging, fun and challenging for a range of abilities where some struggle to run while others are nailing dummy solos and backdoor cuts.
It’s a tough gig, but when you see the buzz they get from trying to compete, it makes it worthwhile. To lose this, or to see them gaining this elsewhere would be tough.
If competition is seen as positive encouragement to participation in things as broad as Irish dancing, music, public speaking and pretty much every other sport, I struggle to see how it’s the evil it’s presented as just because we have some eejits behaving as eejits.
Continue hammering the message around participation and fun above competition and adapt a zero-tolerance culture against toxic coaches and parents.
The vast majority of U10 games should be non-competitive but one or two small competitive blitzes or primary school competitions would be a real boost for many.
For U12s, again the dominant form should be non-competitive Go Games, but several competitive tournaments would not be the destroyer of worlds.
The county boards already sanction any game or blitz activity of a club so surely placing a limit on a club to three to four in a year could be a way forward, that rarely seen middle ground.
But let’s stop for a minute and look for perspective. Here we all are, riled up, with strong opinions either side, driven by a passion for our youngest children and how they experience our national games.
We are nuts, but in a great way.
Bottom line, for me the exponents of the ban quite correctly say that the problem is the adults not the children. In removing any form of competition, it is the children we are punishing.
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